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London Entry #1 - First Date - Part 3

The bike path was my favourite part of our town. On one side was this protected stretch of forest, about 500 acres or so, sandwiched between the two rivers that gave our town its name, and on the other was the smaller, but equally beautiful of the two rivers.

It's name is the Colored River, after the colours created from mills dumping various dyes about 20 years ago.

It had been polluted for quite some years, but recently it had been cleaned up after protests from local residents.

I'm grateful. Now you could see right to the bottom. I liked to go on walks looking for fish the whole while.

That's what I was doing with Ian now, naming the different types of fish I saw. I don't think Ian really cared too much, but that's ok. I enjoyed spending time with him, holding his hand.

Besides, if I was going to give him his gift later tonight, then I wanted something in return. Thus, I annoyed him with my stunningly vast knowledge on aquatic wildlife. I had actually wanted to do something with animals and wildlife conservation, but at the end of Senior year in highschool I had discovered my passion for art, which completely consumed my life for the coming years.

I guess, if you think about it, the two subjects aren't too far apart. I once had a friend who attended a nearby school who went into the subject that the environment is a messy thing. You can't solve the environment like an equation. You remove one variable, suddenly the whole thing is changed. Soon you have a completely different problem. Whenever I painted, I always imagined I was creating an environment, with each organism being a brush stroke. My canvas was the landscape, the forest, the ocean.

Ian, probably out of boredom, put his head on my shoulder.

I leaned mine slightly against his. I waved at a person who walked by, getting a stare and nothing else.

I chuckled to myself

"What's funny?" Ian asked, turning his head to look at me sideways.

"Oh nothing. Just that people in our situation make noise to be forgotten," I paused, "I mean, isn't that what we all want really? Peace and quiet? Now that where accepted, we'll just get ignored like before. And I'm not complaining or anything. It's just an interesting thought is all."

"You know London?"

"What?" I asked quietly.

"I think you think too much."

"Maybe," I said, "But not thinking is sad. It's like a blank canvas, just waiting to be filled."

Ian shrugged.

I looked back at him. His soft face had shadows dancing across it. Bands of colour and bands of anti-colour, from the trees singing overhead.

Each step echoed in the silence of the humid afternoon, sound itself swimming through the air, climbing from each molecule of water to the next. Reaching and reaching.

I could hear the crunch of the gravel, the heavy breathing of my unathletic partner, the flapping of a near by swan, the splashing caused by a small waterfall in the river.

Eventually we got to this tunnel which crossed under neath a busy road over head.

Taking a breath, we plunged into that inky darkness, lit only by the entrance and exit.

As if being born, we emerged from the other side, Ian still holding my hand.

Although we were still on the path, the environment had changed. To our left were a series of well designed brick buildings. The first building was actually an art school which Ian had a class in. He had shown me in it once. It was pretty cool, with a museum dedicated to local artists attached to it through a skywalk.

Ian actually had submitted a few photographs he had taken from around the town, and was always proud to bring up how he had gotten one accepted. He had taken me to see it. Ian was into taking pictures of furs. He loved capturing raw, pure emotion. The picture he had gotten submitted was actually a series of pictures under this theme of emotion. He had taken 5 pictures from around the town of furs displaying one of 5 expressions: Joy, Peace, Concentration, Sorrow and Anger.

I was actually shocked to see that he had included a picture he had taken of me a year ago. It was just after I had opened up a present from him. I had looked up with a wide grin on my face. He had his camera ready, taking one solitary picture.

He refused to show it to me, saying it was his masterpiece and that I'd have to wait to see it. He had dedicated his project to me. It said so in a little plaque below the series of pictures.

I was actually really honored, hugging him then and there.

Thinking about this, I squeezed his hand tighter.

Stone building after building passed by. Eventually we reached where the two rivers merged together. Crossing over another bridge made just for walkers, we picked up the path on the other side of the river, the side of my flat.

After walking for another 5 minutes through a scenic section of downtown, we arrived at another tunnel.

After passing through it, we emerged in full view of the expansive ocean.

"It's so nice today!" Ian said, perking up, "The water's so calm."

"Nice day for swimming?" I asked, giving a hint.

"Well, yeah," Ian said a bit disappointed, "but we don't have our trunks."

"So?" I asked, gently nudging him with my left elbow.

"You mean? Oh! Yeah, definitely!" Ian said, suddenly excited, realizing what I was getting at.

"But the beach must be crowded today," Ian said slightly sadly.

"Don't worry, I know of this nice area that's pretty private. Plus it'll start to get darkish soon, so we wont get bothered I don't think."

"Ok," Ian said, still holding my hand.

We walked for another 5 minutes on the path which gently curved along the natural bend of the beach.

The path continued the curve, drawing closer and closer to the road as the land narrowed to an isthmus connecting the mainland of the town to this medium sized piece of land that was famous for having a unique, red brick lighthouse standing guard to the town's cove.

The path ended at the lighthouse. I knew Ian rarely came down here, so I guided him toward an opening in this tall grass that grew along the bank of the lighthouse and this smallish cliff that led down to the ocean below. Hidden by the grass was a slightly old and worn stone staircase of 15 or so steps.

"Careful," I said, still holding his hand, however I was forced to walk in front of him as the stairs were sort of narrow.

Once at the bottom, I let go of his hand and ran along the powdery white sand beach which in itself curved inward around the circular lighthouse.

I looked back behind me to see Ian slipping on the sand, barely able to catch up.

I stopped, waiting for him with my hands on my hips, "How's it going slowpoke?"

"Fine!" Ian huffed.

"Where going to have to get you into shape!" I said teasingly.

"Or, get you fat so you don't make me walk for half an hour and then run!" Ian quipped.

I smiled at Ian, waiting for him to catch his breath.

"Come on, just a little further," I said, taking his hand again.

We walked along the hot sandy beach for another minute before we reached the wavebreaker, this arm of piled stone that stretched out, almost encircling the town cove.

The beach extended the length of the wavebreaker. Furs would walk along the top which was about twice my height high.

Luckily, I didn't see anybody today.

We walked the length until we reached about half way around the arm.

"This should be good," I said, quickly pulling off my shirt and shorts, until I was just in my boxers.

Ian, who had gotten his breath back, looked behind him, in front of him and above him before he shrugged his shoulders and did the same.

I looked my fox up and down. He was pretty handsome in his foxy way. His body was very nimble, almost hour glass shaped. He put his narrow, gentle hands on his hips.

"You gonna' stop staring and strip already?"

~~~

Ok, I'm going to cut it short here.

Guys and gals, I need you to comment if you like the smaller submissions or if you'd rather me release them as a large, single submission.

Please comment!

If you do not tell me, and you hate the small releases, well, there's not much I can do. Small submissions are easier for me and I can release them more regularly. If I release them in bulk, expect to only get 1 or 2 submissions a week instead of 4-5.

K, I'll leave it at that.

Sincerely, IanWolf

~~~